Library hosted opportunity to meet school trustee candidates

There are 11 candidates looking to be voted into one of five trustee positions available for the School District 57 electoral area for Prince George.

Election day is Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at several locations throughout the city.

Seeking to become school trustees in Prince George are Betty Bekkering, Tim Bennett, Trent Derrick, Sarah Holland, Trudy Klassen, Allan Kranz, Ron Polillo, Stephanie Mikalishen-Deol, Corey Walker, Sharel Warrington and Bruce Wiebe.

The Prince George candidates were invited to a meet and greet called Coffee with the Candidates at the library Saturday where the public could talk to them in a relaxed setting.

Opening remarks started off the event with each candidate offering a brief description of their platform, which gave some insight into why they were running for school trustee.

Soon after that members of the public were invited to sit down with the candidates, grab a coffee or tea and have a chat.

Michelle Frechette engaged each of the candidates, as a college student whose focus is a bachelor’s degree in education.

“I am a very detail-oriented person in general and I am looking for a connection with the school district trustee candidates because in the future I will be part of the system that educates our children.”

She also said she hopes to have children one day and they’ll be in the local school system so the Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) policy that sees the board of education committing to creating and sustaining a safe and positive environment for all students, family and employees who self identify as LGBTQ is important to her.

“I support SOGI because I don’t want the little people that are growing up here to have such a narrow version of the world,” Frechette said.

Bonnie Watt and husband, Rob, who have deep connections in local education, were also in attendance so they could chat with candidates.

“We’ve lived here a long time and met at PGSS (Prince George Secondary School) and now our grandsons attend PGSS, so we have a lot of history in the community,” Bonnie said. She and Rob both attended the College of New Caledonia and raised their family here. Rob became a teacher and Bonnie became a nurse, she said, and her son is a principal at a local elementary school.

“So there are lots of investments in our school system,” Bonnie said. “So we’re interested in education, we realize how important it is, that it never stops and there’s enough funding for students in need.”

Rob said it’s our responsibility as citizens of Prince George to educate ourselves about the candidates.

“The school trustees are going to spend a lot of money in our area in the next year or so,” Rob said. “It’s absolutely critical we do a good job of choosing people and this event has a marvelous format because you can learn an awful lot talking to a person for five minutes.”

For all the details about the election and where to go to vote visit rdffg.bc.ca, scroll down to featured links and click 2018 trustee election.

For more on the school trustee candidates, visit www.pgcitizen.ca.